Transcript

A police submission to an inquiry into the scandal says the Church helps cover-up criminal allegations and fails to bring sex offenders to justice.

It claims that even though the Church uncovered 600 cases of abuse, not one of them was reported to police.

Guy Stayner reports.

GUY STAYNER, REPORTER: Decades after his school days, the 1970s are never far from the mind of 49-year-old Peter Murphy.

PETER MURPHY: I went from being a nice, relaxed, easy-going kid till I turn all of a sudden into - into fits of rage.

GUY STAYNER: Now the Victorian Government's inquiry into sexual abuse within religious organisations is bringing the memories to the surface. He was one of at least eight boys abused by a Catholic priest in Melbourne's north-east.

PETER MURPHY: He climbed on the bed and it was making that much noise I thought that the boy in the room would wake up. And I was just frozen basically. He made himself comfortable and then, yeah, not knowing what's going on, all of a sudden he's got his hand in my sleeping bag and basically abusing me that way, playing with me. And then grabbed my hand and made me touch him as well.

GUY STAYNER: In 1987, 11 years after the abuse, Peter Murphy found the courage to complain to the Church. But instead of having the complaint dealt with, it was ignored for six years. As the complaints multiplied, the perpetrator, Father Peter Chalk, moved to Japan.

What do you think of the Church's response to the allegations that were raised back in 1987?

PETER MURPHY: Um, their response? They basically didn't have much of a response to me. It was basically disgraceful. For them not to even come and see me or ask me things for those - for that many years, um, basically, yeah, you could just say it's disgraceful.

GUY STAYNER: Father Peter Chalk committed suicide in Japan before he could be brought to justice. In a damning submission to Victoria's parliamentary inquiry into sexual abuse in religious institutions, Victoria police cited the practice of moving Church predators like Peter Chalk as a way for the Church to avoid justice.

(male voiceover): "The Catholic Church has on a number of occasions moved alleged offenders. This has included moving alleged offenders to other positions which were perceived as presenting a lower risk to the community or to other locations to impede police investigation."

SHANE MACKINLAY, CATHOLIC CHURCH SPOKESMAN: That was clearly misguided. It was under the - often under professional advice. It reflected the lack of understanding of paedophilia in the community generally, which bishops and religious leaders really wanted to believe because they found it so difficult to accept that priests and religious could do these horrendous things.

GUY STAYNER: While Victoria Police wouldn't comment on its submission today, it was foreshadowed in April by a frustrated Deputy Commissioner, Graham Ashton.

GRAHAM ASHTON, VIC. POLICE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (April): We believe there's also an onus on the Church when they see matters to let us know about them rather than wait for victims to come directly to us.

GUY STAYNER: The police submission clearly states that the Catholic Church's internal inquiry, called the Melbourne Response, often impedes criminal investigations and the administration of justice. In fact, not one allegation of sexual abuse has been referred to police by the Church.

(male voiceover): "Victoria Police has serious concerns regarding the terms of this inquiry process and its appearance as a de facto substitute for criminal justice. As noted on its website, the Melbourne Response has made a number of ex gratia payments to victims. In spite of this, is has not referred a single complaint to Victoria Police."

GUY STAYNER: Are you surprised that police have made a submission that says that the Church have been covering up abuse for years?

PETER MURPHY: No. No, not at all, because they did it for sure. They covered up my one.

GUY STAYNER: The Catholic Church denies its internal inquiry is a cover up.

SHANE MACKINLAY: Of course deliberately impeding a police investigation for one's own benefit or for the benefit of an organisation presumably is a criminal offence, and we are very opposed to anything like that. We're not aware of any situation which could be described in those terms.

GUY STAYNER: At least 40 victims of sex abuse in one Catholic school have since committed suicide. Judy Courtin first uncovered the evidence, linking the suicide cluster to sexual abuse and the Catholic Church.

JUDY COURTIN, MONASH UNIVERSITY: One of the very serious concerns we have around the suicides is sadly they haven't ended. We have figures now of up to 50. My research is revealing more clusters of suicides in other parishes around the state. That's not a past event, sadly.

GUY STAYNER: About 600 abuse victims have come forward in Victoria, but police believe less than 10 per cent of victims complain, meaning the true number could be closer to 10,000.

Peter Murphy says he knows victims who have never complained.

PETER MURPHY: I'd say there'd be a lot more people out there that he's abused.